Ray Kroc spent a lifetime trying to make a living from other people's ideas.

He hawked paper cups, folding kitchen tables called FoldaNooks (he didn't sell a single one), and milkshake machines before he discovered the best idea — of someone else — yet: McDonald's.

"The Founder," which opens nationwide Friday, features Michael Keaton as the complicated Kroc, who elicits sympathy for his eagerness to push on despite decades of struggles, but also scorn for taking credit for the founding of McDonald's and using questionable business tactics to eventually drive the real founders — Dick and Mac McDonald — out of business.

"Founder" director John Lee Hancock ("Blind Side, "Saving Mr. Banks") recently spoke to the Tribune about Ray Kroc, Keaton's portrayal, and the character's comparisons to President-elect Donald Trump. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: It was shocking to see a time (in an early scene) when fast food was not ubiquitous.

A: Yeah, I was taken with that too. It made it even more fun to shoot. Michael (Keaton) got it quickly. But I'm trying to explain to the young man working at the McDonald's there, "You have to explain how to eat things." The actor was great, but he's in his 20s and says, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Q: What guidance did you give Michael Keaton before playing the role?

A: I really enjoyed Robert Siegel's script and felt conflicted about Ray Kroc. I spent half the movie really pulling for him and half the movie questioning him and then being aghast at some of the things he was doing. I wanted to be able to capture that in the film as well. Michael and I had a very similar idea for this. We felt a responsibility to history. We felt a responsibility to the McDonald brothers and to Ray Kroc to be as factual as possible. We didn't have a responsibility to make anyone look good or anybody look bad, just to try our best to be honest.

We said at the beginning we wanted people to be conflicted about Kroc.

Q: What do you think about the potential impact of the movie on McDonald's?

A: I'm way out of my depth here to know what impacts what in the world of advertising or what's in the zeitgeist, but I can see people who would see the movie that would say, "I'm never going to McDonald's again," and I can see people who only know McDonald's as this behemoth go, "Wow, that's an amazing origin story and the brothers were kind of great. I have more respect for McDonald's now." I can see it going both ways. I mean, it's not like it's a movie like "Super Size Me" or something talking about contemporary McDonald's and checking ingredients and those kinds of things.

McDonald's has rolled out two new sizes of its classic Big Mac sandwich — the Grand Mac and Mac Jr. — nationwide.

The world's largest burger chain tested the new versions of the 50-year-old double-decker sandwich in Columbus, Ohio, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area before launching the sandwiches...

Q: How do you think the movie will be perceived in light of our current political climate?

A: When I read it and when we filmed it, our current president-elect — I don't think he even had said he was running for president. That said, I can understand the parallels people are drawing. (Kroc and Trump) are both successful businessmen who were at times ruthless and understood completely the branding and importance of a name. The one big difference for me is that Kroc came from nothing.

It's weird — as I said, I feel conflicted about Ray Kroc because there's a whole lot about him that I admire. Many people said he was the hardest-working person they ever met. And I can relate a little bit to a midlife crisis, asking when the next job is coming and things like that. I understand and respect the fact that he put it all on the line. That kind of risk is rare and admirable.

Q: Do you think Kroc always had that kind of personality? Or did the McDonald's opportunity light his fire?

A: I think his fire was always lit. Whether it was lying about his age to join the war effort early or playing piano with a band thinking, "This is going to hit big," to the wax paper cups to the FoldaNook — by the way, I would kind of love to have a FoldaNook — but nobody seemed to buy those. Everything, when he came home to Ethel (Kroc's first wife), was going to be The One. And all of his ideas — there were many, before he owned McDonald's outright — most of his ideas weren't good. He was better at taking other people's good ideas and making something from them. But I think the world got to him, and it was a true eureka moment when he saw what was the beginning of fast food, fit in the climate of America post-World War II.

And then he was probably one of the very first to understand branding. (The McDonald brothers) created the arches, but Ray Kroc was the one who recognized their power.

Q: Can you talk about the movie's take on capitalism?

A: Well, it's interesting to me because the McDonald brothers' McDonald's and Ray Kroc's McDonald's are both capitalist ventures. Their ultimate goal is money, just the philosophy might be different.

One was the American Dream: Have the best idea, work harder than everybody else, care more deeply than everybody else and you will succeed. That was the McDonald brothers. And that was probably Ray Kroc at the start too. But toward the end of the movie it's more about, nah, you don't have to have the best idea, you just have to grab onto somebody else's best idea and have the best investment bank.

Q: What was your first memory of McDonald's?

A: I was born right in the middle of when this story was going on. I grew up in a refinery town in Texas and we weren't fancy enough to have a McDonald's. I remember going to McDonald's for the first time probably when I was in college. And then I remember going and visiting a friend in Wyoming and he said, "We're going to do something special. We're going to McDonald's."

And I said, "Well, there's a McDonald's right across from my dorm in college," He says, "No, no. We're going to the only McDonald's in Wyoming." It was like 90 miles away. And we drove 90 miles there, and 90 miles back.